Calif. Colleges Going All Out To Woo Minority Students

Accepted to both the University of California, Davis, and a small,
historically black university on the East Coast, Ms. Croom wanted to
know why she should choose a sprawling school with a shrinking number
of minority students over a more intimate one full of "people who can
relate to me all the time."

Ms. Croom's hosts, an ethnically mixed group of Davis upperclassmen
who had gathered to talk with her and 15 other prospective black and
Hispanic students earlier this month, didn't offer any easy answers.
But by praising the welcoming atmosphere and academics at UC-Davis, the
upperclassmen did give Ms. Croom reason to think about the
17,000-student university a little differently, she said later.

"When I got rejected from [UC-]Berkeley, I said I didn't want to go
to a white school," said Ms. Croom, who was also accepted at the
3,700-student Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta. "But the people are
nice here. I feel like maybe they need me. It does look like they need
black people."

Stiff Competition

That kind of firsthand perspective is exactly what UC-Davis
recruiters hope will sway the 16 Los Angeles-area minority students
they flew in for a recent daylong visit to the rural campus 20 miles
east of Sacramento.

As at most of the seven other undergraduate University of California
campuses, the number of black, Hispanic, and Native American students
admitted to UC-Davis dropped significantly this spring. It's the first
time undergraduate admissions have been affected by Proposition 209,
the 1996 California ballot measure that prohibited the state's public
colleges from using racial and gender preferences in admissions.

The number of black students accepted to UC-Davis fell by 36
percent, the number of Hispanics by 20 percent, and the number of
American Indians by 18 percent, compared with last year. The drops came
even after admissions officers expanded outreach efforts to minority
students and broadened admissions criteria to give preference to
low-income students and those who would be the first in their families
to attend college.

Though admittedly disappointed that their efforts failed to produce
more minority acceptances, UC-Davis officials don't have time to dwell
on those numbers. Students must notify the school of their intention to
enroll by May 1, leaving the university scrambling to reach the
prospective students who remain undecided.

Because the colorblind standards imposed by Proposition 209 do not
extend to outreach, UC-Davis in recent weeks has been avidly wooing the
minority students who were accepted in an effort to ensure that the
school's eventual "yield" is as diverse as possible.

The university sponsored several campus visitation days for students
in central and northern California and paid a total of $2,300 for the
airfare and food costs of the group of 16 students visiting from Los
Angeles.

UC-Davis officials say the competition for minority students has
never been stiffer. The university is going head to head with private
colleges and universities in California and other states, as well as
other University of California campuses conducting equally aggressive
outreach campaigns.

"We're targeting underrepresented students with calls and mailings,"
said Gary Tudor, the director of undergraduate admissions and outreach
services at UC-Davis. "We try to have at least one personal contact,
and try to make sure that they get here prior to making a decision.
We're being more aggressive than ever before."

Mixed Emotions

The Los Angeles-area high school seniors who were selected for the
April 14 day trip to Davis could not otherwise have afforded to make
the 380-mile journey, said Cecilia Medina, a 23-year-old UC-Davis
graduate who has worked with the students during the past year as a
Southern California regional coordinator for the university.

A Los Angeles native who grew up in housing projects, Ms. Medina
knows how a 6,000-acre campus where the only major crime is bicycle
theft can seem a world apart from the city streets where the students
grew up.

"They've never been away from home before," Ms. Medina said. "But
now they see it's possible. They see they can succeed in spite of
obstacles."

Weaving through campus in an open-air tour bus, the students
excitedly snapped pictures of a tree-lined brook and giggled at the
sight of the cows that live in the university's agricultural
facilities.

A few of the students said they're sure that UC-Davis is their
school. Some were fairly certain it isn't. But the majority in the
middle saw this trip as a decisionmaker, one that would allow them to
choose between Davis and the other schools at the top of their
lists.

"I feel special," said Eric Gonzalez, a senior at Burmingham High
School in the San Fernando Valley, who will likely attend a local
community college if he decides not to go to UC-Davis. "I feel like
they want us. It's like an investor looking to invest and wanting to
impress you."

Rejected at two other UC campuses, Mr. Gonzalez said he feels
fortunate just to have been accepted to UC-Davis after Proposition 209
went into effect.

"You just have to work hard," Mr. Gonzalez said. "I knew the chances
weren't so good. I'm sure I would feel differently if I hadn't gotten
in anywhere."

But for other students, including Ms. Croom, being admitted to
UC-Davis feels bittersweet. While pleased with the acceptance, they're
disappointed about being turned down by the university system's more
competitive campuses at Los Angeles and Berkeley. They say they can't
help but feel that if they had applied last year, things would have
been different.

"This year I got hurt by the end of affirmative action," Ms. Croom
said.

One student on the day trip, senior Tuni Calloway, feels confident
she'll go to the University of California, Los Angeles, in the fall,
even though her parents want her to go to UC-Davis. A recent reception
hosted by black UCLA alumni clinched the choice for her.

"They really pushed UCLA," Ms. Calloway said. "It feels like they
want the best for me."

'No Clear Answer'

Even officials at UC-Berkeley, one of the top public universities in
the nation, fear that the limited number of black, Hispanic, and
American Indian students they accepted will go elsewhere. More than
ever before, the minority students admitted there are academically
"stellar" and are likely being pursued by Ivy League universities and
other elite schools, said Jesus Mena, a spokesman for the
22,000-student university.

When UC-Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl learned that the number
of black students accepted at his campus dropped by 66 percent from
last year, and the number of Hispanic students by 53 percent, he
postponed a planned two-week fund-raising tour of Asia. Mr. Berdahl has
instead spent much of his time calling prospective minority students
and meeting them at receptions around the state.

"It's very important for a public university to be integrated," said
Patrick Hayashi, the associate vice chancellor of admissions and
enrollment at UC-Berkeley. "To not try our hardest would be
irresponsible."

But to the dozens of students who gathered outside the Berkeley
administration building for a recent protest rally, the university's
post-admissions efforts don't go far enough.

Waving banners with phrases like "1898 or 1998?," members of
UC-Berkeley's black student union organized the rally "to voice our
outrage and to demand that students be given equal education," said
senior Tanisha Grimes.

Students passed around a petition that called on the university to
immediately admit 800 underrepresented students who were turned down
despite having 4.0 grade point averages and SAT scores of at least
1200.

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